Biesenblog

Insights on Communication, Storytelling and Presentation Skills

Storytelling is one of the most powerful ways to engage and persuade an audience. But not if you’re telling the same old stories we’ve all heard a thousand times before. You need to tell truly original stories — otherwise, people will tune you out. Here’s What Not to Do Stop me if you’ve heard this […]

Storytelling has become one of the most overused, misused and abused concepts in business today. People play fast and loose with the definition of story. So what is a story? The first step in figuring that out what a story is, is understanding what a story is not. A quote from Winston Churchill is not a […]

I hate to be the one to break the news, but your brain lies to you. Constantly. The good news is, you can use that knowledge to your advantage in telling your story. And storytelling is one of the most powerful ways to engage your audience and get them to act, whether it’s clicking through […]

President Kennedy’s iconic “we choose to go to the moon” speech, which I watched the other day near the anniversary of his death, offers important storytelling tips for anyone trying to explain complex ideas to a general audience. Watch the video (or read the speech here), and see how Kennedy uses analogy to put abstract concepts—big […]

On Monday I led a 90-minute storytelling workshop in New York for a CEO and his direct reports. They were trying to work out how to rally and unite their employees, but I came away with something, too: what I’m modestly calling A Grand Unified Theory of Storytelling. The event’s organizers had an artist there […]

Last week I was in Cleveland visiting family and I finally got to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (+Museum). I really did enjoy it and I appreciated what they did, but I came away feeling they could do a much, much better job telling the story of “the world’s most powerful art […]

An elevator pitch can be a handy tool for networking, but it will only take you so far. If you really want to make a connection and influence people to act on your behalf (hire you, buy from you, help you in any way), you need to learn how to craft and tell the story […]

I’m presenting a webinar this Thursday that will offer advice on how you can use storytelling to better persuade audiences and make your ideas stick. It’s sponsored by Ragan Communications and there is a registration fee. You can check out the details here. Here’s the program description from the Ragan website: Nothing beats a well-told […]

(A version of this post originally ran as a guest post on the Spin Sucks blog.) Study after study points to the power of storytelling to transform our communications, help us move and persuade audiences and get more of what we want out of life. I find people are either totally intimidated by the notion of […]

Today I’m guest blogging over at the estimable Spin Sucks blog. So click on over for the story of Estela and the Candy Factory and my Easy Formula for Unlocking the Power of Stories. And if you’re interested in marketing, communications and social media, it’s a great blog to add to your feed!